The big Fund a Cure drive (100 percent research, 100 percent tax deductible) at the first Imagine for JDRF (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund) raised $17,000. Inside the Statehouse Convention Center on April 9, the same bit brought in more than $350,000, said director Sue Tull, bringing the 15-year Fund a Cure fundraising total to $2 million.
Imagine that!
It was dark inside one of the Governor's Halls (III or IV?), and kind of cool electric blue. Organizers had set up a lounge area with tall-backed sofas and other plush seats by the bar that got popular quickly.
A fire earlier in the Marriott Hotel kitchen, Tull reported, created some interesting dynamics along the hall between the hotel and the convention center. Cocktail attired JDRF silent auction bidders bumped elbows with Crow Burlingame folks with "Bumper to Bumper" patches stitched onto their button-ups. There was also an Army National Guard contingent following separate marching orders entirely.
The event chairmen were Dina and Patrick Ifrah, whose daughter Isabella, 14, is an ambassador for JDRF and a patient of Dr. Chad Rodgers. Rodgers and his husband, Eric McDaniel, were the event's honorees.
"The ambassador program, that's how we got involved," Dina Ifrah said during the cocktail hour.
A boy about Isabella's age invited them in. The ambassadors try and meet once a month for outings and community, "and it's funny to hear them sit and talk about, 'Oh, don't you hate it when you're in class and your insulin pump starts beeping?' It's just nice they have a forum they can meet and talk about their normal things.
"And then, for moms, we visit and talk and, 'Oh, my kid's blood sugar last night was 400.' 'Uh, mine's was 480!' You know?"
Such community makes volunteering and acts of charity a smaller and smaller sacrifice.
"We're a strong group of moms."
Rodgers was the pediatrician who diagnosed Isabella with Type 1 diabetes. She presented him at the Living and Giving Award this year. He and McDaniel got a standing ovation, which has never happened before at this event, Tull said.
The total for the fundraiser is just under $650,000, Tull said Tuesday.
High Profile on 04/17/2016